New EDC Director Officially Arrives in Junction City

Jan. 06, 2017

New Economic Development Commission Director Mickey Fornaro-Dean has officially arrived in Junction City.

Dean arrived earlier this week, and has been impressed so far with everything she has seen.

“I was impressed before I came to Junction City, and I still am,” she said Thursday. “The people are just as warm, as vibrant, as exciting as I’d thought they’d be.”

Dean’s to-do list has been long since she officially arrived, but so far it’s mainly been meet-and-greet before she can really start to work.

“I have all kinds of ideas,” she said. “But really, the first week or two weeks are (going to be spent) with me getting to know the community, getting to know community leaders. It’s hard to really move forward and do much in a community until you kind of understand the lifeblood — the pulse of the people.”

She hasn’t had a chance to formally meet with any business owners yet. Most of her time the past few days has been spent getting to know community leaders and helping them put a face to a name. But she will be in attendance at the next EDC meeting Jan. 12, and plans to meet one-on-one with as many people as she can in the meantime.

“I’m scheduling meetings. I’ve met a lot that have kinda cruised through the Chamber, and had some conversations ... so that was good,” she said. “(I’m) getting stuff scheduled and understanding the community and its issues and its needs.”

Now that she’s officially at ground-zero though, the anticipation of working with leaders to expand Junction City’s economic development is almost too much to bear.

“I’m just excited that there seems to be a real spirit of working together to make Junction City a better place,” she said.